Sexual homicide typically implies a crime involving two people: perpetrator and victim. Thus, multiple-perpetrator and multiple concurrent victim sexual murderers are unusual, empirically invisible ...due to their exclusion from (or burying within) research samples. The present study examines 21 such cases of male sexual murderers having perpetrated at least one sexual homicide either together with a co-offender or alone but killing two victims at once. The aim was to investigate just how unusual, or not, these cases may be in relation to current scientific understanding of sexual murderers and their crimes. A descriptive analysis of offenses (co-offender and offender–victim dynamics, modus operandi) and offender characteristics is presented. Main findings, that multiple-perpetrator and multiple concurrent victim sexual murderers are not so unusual in that they are well conceptualized through application of the established sexualized, grievance, and rape murderer typology, are discussed in relation to clinical and empirical implications.
In pursuit of “what works” in violent offending behavior programs, there remain insufficient evaluations of program outcomes. Three hundred forty-five offenders from the Canadian Violence Prevention ...Program (VPP) were compared after an average 3-year follow-up with 338 non-VPP participants. Outcomes measured were new convictions for violent, sexual, or general offenses. Intent-to-treat design was used. Subsequently, participants who completed or did not complete the program were compared with the non-VPP group. Further analyses considered Indigenous and non-Indigenous subgroups. Overall, lower recidivism rates were associated with VPP completion, both in the complete sample and ethnic subgroups. However, the main finding of significantly lower likelihood of violent recidivism was found only for the Indigenous offenders, while significantly lower likelihood of general (nonviolent) recidivism was specific to non-Indigenous offenders. Results are interpreted cautiously in relation to program effectiveness given the quasi-experimental design and the important implications of outcome studies for correctional services.
Grievance-fueled sexual violence Higgs, Tamsin; Darjee, Rajan; Davis, Michael R ...
Frontiers in psychology,
03/2023, Letnik:
14
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The grievance fueled violence paradigm encompasses various forms of targeted violence but has not yet been extended to the theoretical discussion of sexual violence. In this article, we argue that a ...wide range of sexual offenses can be usefully conceptualized as forms of grievance fueled violence. Indeed, our assertion that sexual violence is often grievance fueled is unoriginal. More than 40 years of sexual offending research has discussed the pseudosexual nature of much sexual offending, and themes of anger, power, and control - themes that draw clear parallels to the grievance fueled violence paradigm. Therefore, we consider the opportunities for theoretical and practical advancement through the merging of ideas and concepts from the two fields. We examine the scope of grievance in the context of understanding sexual violence, and we look to the role of grievance in the trajectory toward both sexual and nonsexual violence, as well as factors that might distinguish grievance fueled sexual from nonsexual violence. Finally, we discuss future research directions and make recommendations for clinical practice. Specifically, we suggest that grievance represents a promising treatment target where risk is identified for both sexual and nonsexual violence.
Degree of injury, as measured by the Homicide Injury Scale (HIS), was examined to advance understanding of the dynamics of sexual killing. A total of 350 nonserial, male sexual killers were included, ...and the different ways that the sexual element of their offenses and the act of killing were connected was accounted for by determining that cases were either directly sexual (the sexual element and killing were closely bound), or indirectly sexual (killing was not a source of sexual stimulation). The two groups, direct and indirect sexual killers, were each subjected to multiple linear regression analyses to examine the group-specific relationship between level of injury and predictor variables previously found to be associated with increased severity of attack. No differences in the mean total HIS scores between the indirect and the direct cases were found, suggesting a comparable emotional intensity between the groups. However, given that the groups differed in terms of the functional role of fatal violence, severity of attack could not be sufficiently explained as driven by anger. In line with this hypothesis, different predictors appeared to be associated with increased degree of injury sustained by victims of indirect compared with direct sexual killers. As such, situational components appear to play a role in the behavior of indirect sexual killers, whereas the behavior of direct perpetrators tends to be linked with the enactment of existing deviant fantasies. The role of anger in sexual homicide is discussed further, and overall, it is argued that irrespective of whether violence was initially driven by anger, evidence of sexual arousal to severe violence must be scrutinized within sexual homicide research as well as in psycholegal contexts.
The Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL: SV) is a short form of the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R), an expert-rated assessment that measures psychopathic personality traits in ...research, clinical, and community settings. The PCL-R is an extensively relied upon tool in psycho-legal contexts. The screening version is also widely used; however, it has received far less empirical attention than the PCL-R. This review examines the psychometric properties of the PCL: SV, specifically in relation to forensic samples, and evaluates its comparability with the full PCL-R. Previously reported similarity in the reliability and validity of the PCL: SV as established for the PCL-R was supported through further testing in forensic samples. However, limitations in terms of available normative data are highlighted, and the review engages with wider debate concerning the measurement of psychopathy.
The reactive-proactive aggression dichotomy is a valid, reliable, and useful concept widely used in psychology and criminology but paradoxically largely ignored in the field of sexual offending ...research. The objective of this study was to test whether adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) as well as psychopathology relevant to physical and sexual violence (psychopathy and sexual sadism) predict the type of aggression (reactive/proactive) exhibited in the commission of a sexual homicide.
Data were collated from criminal case files held across 46 courthouses in France. Reactive sexual homicide offenders (SHO-R, n = 31) and proactive sexual homicide offenders (SHO-P, n = 58) were compared in terms of ACEs and psychometric measures of psychopathy (PCL: SV) and sexual sadism (SeSaS).
The findings indicated that ACEs and PCL: SV Factor 2 were associated with reactive aggression in the context of sexual homicide, whereas PCL: SV Factor 1 and sexual sadism were associated to proactive aggression.
This study emphasized the role of ACEs and personality traits in the development of different types of aggression exhibited in sexual homicide and highlighted advantages of applying mainstream psychological and criminological concepts to extreme violence phenomena.
•Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Sexual Homicide Offenders.•Adverse childhood experiences were associated with reactive aggression (RA).•Sexual sadism was associated with proactive aggression (PA).•Impulsive-antisocial psychopathic traits were associated with RA.•Affective-interpersonal psychopathic traits were associated with PA.
Since it was first published in 1995, the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment (SARA) Guide has become one of the most used and researched intimate partner violence (IPV) risk measures worldwide. Yet, no ...recent review has formally and systematically established the psychometric properties of this measure. Furthermore, the third version of the SARA (SARA-V3) was published in 2015, with no psychometric critique to date. This review aimed to provide an inclusive and exhaustive literature review of all psychometric properties (i.e., predictive validity, convergent validity, internal consistency, and inter-rater) of the SARA, including V3. A systematic search of 17 databases was conducted following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Academic journals, book chapters, and gray literature were included but conference presentations were not. To be included studies had to report a psychometric property of any version of the SARA and be composed of individuals having committed IPV. The search identified 28 records published between 1997 and 2022. Results showed that although the literature on the SARA is mostly positive, it is much more varied in terms of both results and research quality than its widespread implementation might suggest. Most studies were conducted using case files in a research context with non-diverse samples, undermining ecological validity. Results for convergent and predictive validity were mostly positive. However, reliability statistics were under-researched and showed poorer results. Lastly, little research has gone into validating the SARA-V3, with what is available suggesting poorer reliability and validity than its predecessor. Practitioners are cautioned against transitioning to the newer version before further validation research has occurred.
Abstract Research concerned with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and criminality has grown in recent years. While having ASD does not increase risk of sexual offending behavior, an association has ...been recognized between ASD and sexually abusive behaviors. Despite this association, inadequacies in much of the criminal justice system to respond to the needs of this client group have been raised. A proportion of those people within the criminal justice system convicted of sexual offenses will have ASD. Given that group based interventions require participants to carry out introspection, sharing personal information and interacting in a group, all activities that an individual with ASD will invariably find challenging, efforts need to be made to develop interventions to work responsively, safely, appropriately and effectively with this client group to reduce risk of sexual recidivism. This review sets out to consider research on ASD and sexual offending in order to make practical recommendations on working responsively to raise the possibility of therapeutic interventions being effective when engaging with this client group. The status of research on ASD both generally, as far as the scope of this review allows, and in relation to offending is discussed and practical guidance is offered.
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